Agronomic Performances of Organic Field Vegetables Managed with Conservation Agriculture Techniques: A Study from Central Italy

Abstract

Organic farming systems are considered not compatible with conservation tillage mainly because of the reliance of conservative systems on herbicides. In this three-year field experiment, we tested the performances of an innovative vegetable organic and conservative system (ORG+) combining the use of cover crops (exploited as either living or dead mulch) and no-till techniques. This system was compared to “business-as-usual” organic farming (ORG) and integrated farming system (INT) based on the same crop sequence: savoy cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. sabauda L. cv. Famosa), spring lettuce (Lactuca sativa L. cv. Justine), fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill. Cv. Montebianco), and summer lettuce (Lactuca sativa L. cv. Ballerina RZ). The results of crop yield parameters and weed abundance contribute to spotlight potentialities and weaknesses of organic-conservative management of field vegetables. In particular, ORG+ caused significant yield depletion for all the crops and revealed suboptimal weed control and N availability. The agroecosystem services provided by the cover crops grown in the ORG+ as dead mulch or living mulch were affected by weather conditions and not always resulted in significant crop gain. Nevertheless, interesting results in terms of P availability and reduced N surplus encourage further development of the system targeting more sustainable organic vegetable production.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Soil Cultivated with Vegetables in Crop Rotation under Integrated, Organic and Organic Conservation Management in a Mediterranean Environment

“…Moreover, the trade-off between GHG mitigation and the crop productivity has to be taken into account, evaluating the crop yield in the three cropping systems [63].…”

Autonomous Mowers Working in Narrow Spaces: A Possible Future Application in Agriculture?

“…Living mulch is also effective in controlling weeds [25] and pests [26]. The development of innovative technologies for cover crop management can encourage a larger use of conservative agriculture techniques, making them more sustainable for farmers [27]. However, no trial has been carried out to assess the working capacity of autonomous mowers when these mowers operate in areas with many obstacles.…”

Weed Functional Diversity as Affected by Agroecological Service Crops and No-Till in a Mediterranean Organic Vegetable System

“…End of harvest stage —Similar results on weed community traits between PG and EH highlighted only slight changes of the weed communities during the crop cycle, as similar frequencies of the main species in both the stages were recorded ( Figure 2 ). This result indicates that the mulch maintains both a filter action on weed traits throughout the crop cycle [ 35 ] and the ability to suppress weeds until the end of the crop cycle [ 7 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ] without reducing weed richness. Finally, the lower L Ellenberg score, found in the weed communities of ASC yes treatments in 2014, suggests a potential effect of the mulch in favouring the emergence of sciaphilous species during the crop cycle [ 15 ].…”

“…Surface residues decrease the average soil temperature and the daily fluctuations, reducing germination rates of many weed species [ 13 ]. Furthermore, reduced tillage can change the functional attributes of the weed community, acting as selective driver [ 7 , 9 , 13 , 15 , 17 ].…”